2016/11/13

yum repository

With NetKernel 6.1.1. now out in the wild, all reasons are of course valid to install it at your local shop and show it off. Now, I don't know about your daily job, but mine is in a bank/insurance environment (at the moment, I'm a freelance consultant) and they are not so happy with :

downloading a jar

copying the jar to a target system

manually installing the jar

While these steps are trivial in themselves, they are often considered unprofessional/untrustworthy.

So, while solving this problem for myself I decided to solve it for everybody else too. I'm therefore proud to present the NetKernel Yum Repository today. At the moment it contains a NetKernel 6.1.1. SE rpm, an EE rpm will soon be added.

How does it work ?

On RHEL6 / CentOS 6Create a new repository definition file (or have your System Administrators create this, strangely enough this will rarely be considered a problem), for example /etc/yum.repos.d/netkernel.repo with the following content :

[netkernel]

name=NetKernel Yum Repository

baseurl=http://tomgeudens.io:8400/RHEL/6/$basearch

gpgcheck=1

repo_gpgcheck=1

gpgkey=http://tomgeudens.io:8400/RHEL/6/$basearch/yumrepo_public.key

enabled=1Notice that both the rpms in the repository and the repository itself are signed, no messing around with security, I've got to convince the security team of a bank here !Next you should be able to search for NetKernel and install it (this may require you to download the yumrepo_public.key, just say yes when asked for it) :

Complete!Now you've got a completely functional NetKernel 6.1.1. SE on your system. It lives in /opt/netkernel and has it's own service user, netkernel. It's not running yet though, because this is where some configuration comes in (pretty much as you would also not start an Apache server before configuring it) :

At some shops logs are kept in a central place. The /opt/netkernel/log directory is empty at this point and can therefore easily be relinked to a central location.

You might want to change the JVM settings in /opt/netkernel/bin/jvmsettings.cnf. Memory is cheap, so add lots ...

NetKernel (as it is set up here) requires access to the Apposite repositories. This may require you to review and change the HTTP Proxy Settings in /opt/netkernel/etc/kernel.properties.

...

When you're ready to roll, this is what remains to be done :

sudo chkconfig netkernel onsudo service netkernel startOn RHEL7 / CentOS 7There are a few (small) differences on the more recent RedHat-flavoured systems. The idea of runlevels and such has practically disappeared (some traces are left for backwards compatibility). So the package is a bit different. Lets start with creating a new repository definition file :

[netkernel]

name=NetKernel Yum Repository

baseurl=http://tomgeudens.io:8400/RHEL/7/$basearch

gpgcheck=1

repo_gpgcheck=1

gpgkey=http://tomgeudens.io:8400/RHEL/7/$basearch/yumrepo_public.key

enabled=1The yum-commands to search and install are identical, you will notice that the rpm that is installed is netkernel-se-6.1.1-el7.x86_64.rpm.The configuration is also identical, to get things started however these are the commands :sudo systemctl enable netkernel sudo systemctl start netkernelQuestions

Does the package verify the Java 1.8.x requirement ?No, it does not at the moment, I'm still figuring out how I can cater for both OpenJDK and Oracle (and possibly others) at the same time.

I'm running on Debian/Ubuntu, do you have an Apt repository available ?Not yet, but watch this space.

I notice you only have a x86_64 package available, can you also provide a i386 package ?Yes I can, that's on my todo-list.

Look, my shop really does not allow me to punch through the firewall to the Apposite repository. Can you provide a package that contains a few extra modules (x, y and z) and does not phone home ? Well, if you really need that, contact me with your requirements and I'll see what I can come up with :tom<dot>geudens<at>hush<dot>aipractical<dot>netkernel<at>gmail<dot>com